JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
....

Pollution credits: A company prefers to change nothing about their
facilities. For a cost that's less than making the needed changes, they buy
the right to do nothing.

What do you think would make a politician agree to vote for a law which
allows this? Be the lobbyist for a utility in Ohio, whose plant is "emitting
more smog-causing nitrogen oxides than all of the dozen or so coal-burning
plants in New York state, Federal emissions records show."
....

On the other hand, the company that sold the credits had them to sell.
And, eventually, they expire and there aren't an unlimited number of them.

Overall, it again boils down to a compromising action that was able to
be enacted that provides both sides a little of what they wanted. Ugly
maybe, but that's essentially the way all legislation gets enacted.

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